I gave in. I kept a doeling this year. How could I not? Look at that sweet face!
Princess of the Bricks!
This was Plum's second...her first was a single buckling, born in the wee hours of the night, snuck out without any assistance between my frequent peeks two years ago. Plum didn't have a pattern yet, having only delivered one baby, so I wasn't sure if she'd do the same thing again. She did.
Nutmeg was a singleton, born between barn checks around 3 AM on an unusually cold night. I always get nervous about deliveries and checked about every hour. I swear Plum checked her watch and knew my pattern, and purposely crossed her legs and looked unconcerned, then quickly shot that baby out the second the door closed behind me. Plummy officially has a pattern now. It is a pattern of easy births, so even though it is in the middle of the night, I can live with it!
As is usual here, I got her right onto a bottle. Many people have expressed concern about this, thinking it has a note of cruelty to it for both mother and baby. Let me tell you, it is far easier on everyone concerned to keep them apart right from the first moment than to separate them two three months later. There is barely a whimper when the baby is "pulled" from the momma within minutes. The wailing and crying two months later is heart wrenching and can be heard throughout the entire neighborhood.....and it is not just mine!
Nutmeg comes on well-supervised walks with the dogs while she is less than a week old. At this age, she does not wander far from us and will come immediately when called. All I have to do is call her and start to run, and she is at my side in a blink.
Since she is a single baby and has no siblings on the farm right now, she spends a lot of time with me while I garden and do spring clean up. Since she is not eating solid food yet, I can take her everywhere on the property without fear of her destroying my plants.
Nutmeg likes to supervise building projects.
"Your wall is crooked!" She is a hard task-mistress!
(Nutmeg is a couple of days old in these pictures, taken a few weeks ago.)
Cute, cute, cute!
ReplyDeleteI agree....and I'm not biased or anything...
ReplyDeleteI am still quite new in having goats... But, we don't separate at all...my old goat shares her stable with her daughters (and out horses)... and when they get babies they will share in three generations. Seems to be normal here (Denmark). Is there any reason why you separate them? Love your blogg - great to follow!
ReplyDeleteYes, I separate them day one because the market I'm selling the babies to is mostly the pet market, and if the new owners bottle feed, they will form a very strong bond with the babies. It can be very, very difficult and stressful to try to get a baby that has nursed on mama to then switch to the bottle. Another reason I separate them so early is that I get very, very attached if they are here very long so I do try to sell them as soon as possible after they are two weeks old (I feel better about it if they are starting to nibble on solid food before they go.)
ReplyDeleteSeparating also allows me to achieve my goal of having milk for the house and for making cheese...yum!
By the way, since writing this, I was able to re-introduce Nutmeg to her mama and she is fat and well fed! I do separate them at night and take all of the morning milking. Then Nutmeg spends the day with Plum and drinks every drop. Plum gives enough milk to easily feed triplets, so Nutmeg is still getting more than she needs. Then Plum goes into a stall for the night and Nutmeg stays with her aunt Peach, our herd queen, who is like her second mom. They are all such loves!